What is the best way to store these...

[jas]

I live in Florida and we don't have basements and the garage in the summer is way too hot to store most items.

I want to know what is the best way to store these extra things

flours, sugar, rice, beans, I have some extras of these things in my freezer now, but wonder if it is okay to store in there. I want to add more, but am not sure how to store it.

TIA

[tiff]

From what I've read, food grade bucket, mylar bag and an oxygen absorber. Its ok to leave in the freezer but you need an alternative storage in case there is no power or the freezer stops working.

[Spirit Deer]

That stuff is all okay to store in the freezer. In case of a power failure, it won't hurt it to thaw out.

[jas]

I guess to get the food grade bucket you would get that at a restraunt supply store?

[ArmyOfFive4God]

You can obtain food grade buckets from your local bakeries (think grocery & stuffmart). You may have to wash them (icing buckets), but most places are willing to save themselves a trip to the dumpster out back! Weekends are good, because of the birthday parties.

[thefrug]

I have a foodsaver for vacuum sealing those things. Do you have a closet that you could store them in, in your house? Maybe in a rubbermaid tub or something?

[ArmyOfFive4God]

You have to be careful vaccing flours & other powders. It's best to either keep them in the orig. bags or put them into baggies, otherwise you can suck that powder into the works & ruin the FS. Also, beware of pastas & rice, as they can puncture the bags. JM2¢ LOL

[jas]

Yes I do have a vacuum system. Thanks for the tips. I am going around streamlining everything to make more room for stockpiling items.

[cheles2kids]

Jas, we lived in Jacksonville for about 5.5 years, so I know what you're dealing with.

What I would do is to store my paper products in the garage~
toilet paper
paper towels
laundry detergent
paper plates


If you have the extra room in your freezer, then leaving them in there will be fine.
If you find that you begin to run out of room in the freezer, you can use just about any of the ideas above.

The rubbermaid idea would be inexpensive and you could probably stack those, depending on the weight, two or three high.
You could also slide these underneath a bed out of sight.

5 gallon buckets with mylar bags & oxygen absorbers are an excellent resource, but I personally would only use these in a long-term application.
If you are looking to store items for 5+ years from now, then I would say that they would be worth the added expense & time to prepare.

If you're just looking for ways to store them for shorter-term storage, the freezer or a Foodsaver will work.
There are jar attachments that you can use to vacuum seal items in canning jars (I find the wide mouth 1/2 gallon or quart sizes to be more handy).
As for the flour, you can still use a Foodsaver to vacuum seal them inside of a canning jar, you just need to go about it a different way.

Here is a video explaining several different ways to utilize your vacuum sealer:
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSKglOqP5xA[/nomedia]

I use both the wide mouth attachment & I also purchased the 6 quart canister to place other jars inside to vacuum seal.
Both of these work well.

Hth you some.

[thefrug]

I make a bag with the foodsaver, insert the flour still in the original bag, and then vacuum and seal.. works great! hard as a brick. I do the same with with my matches ( leave in original package). soaps, everything dry, I try to leave in the original packaging.

[hestlauss]

My Mom used to store can goods under our beds when we were little if you look around your house you may be able to find extra forgotten unused space in your house for rice and beans and other items that can be stored outside of the freezer. If you are going to use underbed storage putting items in boxes makes retreival easier (even more so if you have carpet) and you can mark the purchase dates of the box so you know what to use first (FIFO).

[Grainlady]

CAUTION for all of you who are vacuum-sealing flour in FoodSaver bags! That's not advised by FoodSaver for several good reasons. Although it seems dry, flour has too much moisture in it for compacting in a bag. It can develop mold (even a deadly aflatoxin) or a moldy-odor from long storage compacted in a bag. If you want to vacuum seal flour, then use canisters or jars where the flour will remain free-flowing.

Avoid used food-grade plastic containers that had an oily/fatty product in it. Fat bonds to the plastic and will go rancid under the right conditions - even though you clean them. No amount of cleaning will remove all of it because it bonds to the plastic.

You can find information about proper food storage at Emergency Essentials (http://beprepared.com/).

[jas]

CAUTION for all of you who are vacuum-sealing flour in FoodSaver bags! That's not advised by FoodSaver for several good reasons. Although it seems dry, flour has too much moisture in it for compacting in a bag. It can develop mold (even a deadly aflatoxin) or a moldy-odor from long storage compacted in a bag. If you want to vacuum seal flour, then use canisters or jars where the flour will remain free-flowing.

Avoid used food-grade plastic containers that had an oily/fatty product in it. Fat bonds to the plastic and will go rancid under the right conditions - even though you clean them. No amount of cleaning will remove all of it because it bonds to the plastic.

You can find information about proper food storage at Emergency Essentials (http://beprepared.com/).

Is the freezer okay for flour storage??

[Debbie-cat]

Is the freezer okay for flour storage??

Yes, you can store flour in the freezer...if you have room!

[rainbowgc]

I freeze my dry goods to kill possible bugs. Then I store in buckets. I am in Florida. Sugar, just store in buckets - no freezing necessary. The smaller buckets work great for things like dried beans and pasta.